MADISON -- After decades in which "women's ordination" was openly discussed, Pope John Paul II declared, in the encyclical Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in 1994, that priestly ordination is reserved to men and the Church has no authority to change this.

To this day, however, many Catholics remain puzzled as to how or even whether the question has been fully resolved. If anything, public dissent is growing stronger with high-profile cases of priests and others declaring opposition to the teaching.

The Diocese of Madison invites all to attend a St. Thérèse of Lisieux Lecture on Tuesday, Nov. 8, in which Sr. Sara Butler, Chester and Margaret Paluch Professor of Theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in the Archdiocese of Chicago, will address the topic. Her analysis will review the chief arguments in the debate and offer an explanation of why the Catholic doctrine of the priesthood does not compromise the Church's teaching on women's equal rights and dignity with men.